Celtic: Reo Hatate makes brilliant admission about Real Madrid

Celtic made their long awaited return to the Champions League in midweek and it did not disappoint. The Hoops welcomed Real Madrid to Parkhead in a game that was a lot closer than the 3-0 scoreline coming out of it might suggest. In fact, Ange Postecoglou’s side should been a goal or two in front of the European champions but failed to take their chances.

And when you fail to take your chances at this level against a team like Real Madrid, there is only one thing that is expected to happen and it did as well.

Real Madrid came out looking like a different team in the second half and punished Celtic for their missed chances. Los Blancos put three past the Scottish champions with Luka Modric, Vinicius Jr and Eden Hazard putting their names on the score sheet.

Overall, it was still a very positive experience though, both for the fans and a number of the players as well, who were playing at this level for the first time. Now, the important thing is to make use of this experience to get even better.

Celtic: Reo Hatate makes brilliant admission about Real Madrid game

As reported by the Daily Record, Hatate said coming out of the game against Real Madrid:

"“I cannot express with my words what that experience was like.“I tried a lot of things, and showed a little of what I can do, and I learned a lot of things from playing against players like that. I have to take as much out of this experience as I can and use that to improve as a player.”"

It was certainly Hatate’s first experience of the Champions League and what an introduction to the competition as well, coming up against the 14-time winners and current holders, Real Madrid.

It was certainly a night to remember for the Japanese star, who only arrived at Celtic in January but has already impressed a lot of people. In fact, he did not look out of place vs Real Madrid either.

Hatate’s performance in the first half was very, very good and while he did fade away after the break, like most of the team, hopefully he will still be able to use the experience to become an even better player moving forward.